With both AIs installed into the combat drones. they were asked to test the systems by the science team. After everything checked out they followed the Director to an armour laboratory.
"Select which armour you will wear, take heed, your exoskeleton drones will be permanently bound to your armour, so choose wisely." The Director instructed.
In front of them were 4 sets of armour.
EVA.
Rogue.
Recon.
And Gungnir.
"That one." Redd said immediately, pointing to the Recon armour.
The scientists grabbed the armour and escorted out of the room. A good ten minutes later he came back piloting the armour, it was also sprayed his primary colour, courtesy of the Science team. On his back, he was sporting two modules.
Blu, being naturally indecisive, took his time choosing his armour.
He pointed at the Gungnir armour. "This one sir."
The scientists took the suit and escorted Blu to the fitting room.
After the suit was fitted and sprayed sky blue, he exited the installation room. He also had two modules on his back.
They both stood facing the Director.
"There are certain limitations for you two on this ship. Firstly, do not, under any circumstances, reveal your true identity to anyone outside this room. Secondly, you report to me and only me. And lastly, avoid communication with the other agents, unless absolutely necessary. Do I make myself clear?" He ordered.
"Sir, yes sir." They replied in unison.
After dismissing them, the Director let them out of the laboratory. A member of staff showed them to their shared accommodation and then they were left to wander the Mother of Invention.
"What now?" Redd asked out of boredom.
"Explore the ship I guess." Blu replied.
Redd nodded and followed Blu out of the room.
What they didn't realise, is how big the ship was until they managed to get lost twice and had to ask for directions.
Whilst walking, Redd was playing with his armour's features, he took a particular liking to the voice changer.
Playing around with it he saved a setting that replicated his voice at different pitches.
"Can we do something?" Redd asked impatiently.
"Like what exactly?" Blu retorted. "It's not like we can just go and talk to the other agents."
Redd shook his head indignantly.
The twins kept traversing the hallway until they caught glimpse of an agent clad in black armour. They both froze in their tracks when the character faced them ominously.
They turned on their heels and attempted to escape. It failed, as Agent Texas grabbed them both by the shoulders and span them around.
"Going somewhere?" She interrogated.
"We're not supposed to talk to other agents." Blu calmly spoke.
"You asshole! You just did!" Redd exclaimed. Elbowing his brother.
Blu scowled at him, then turned his attention back to Texas who was looking them both up and down.
"Your friend's correct." She told him. "Brother." Blu corrected abruptly.
"Your brother's correct." She growled.
She released her hold on them and stood up straight. "You boys got names?" She asked.
"Redd." "Blu." They replied consecutively.
"Right. I'm Texas." She spoke proudly.
They both nodded.
"Can all agents report to the briefing room." F.I.L.S.S, the ship's AI chirped.
"Well, gotta scram, catch you later boys." Texas called as she jogged towards her summoner.
They looked at each other and shrugged.
"Agents. It has come to my attention that the insurrectionists have acquired some technology that previously belonged to the UNSC. It is our job to steal it back." The Director explained.
A few of the agents had began to prepare themselves by cracking knuckles and other body parts.
"You will be split into three teams, Agent Carolina leading team one, Agent North Dakota will be leading team two and Agent Wyoming team three. Two additional agents will be on standby to be dropped from orbit, if necessary." He continued.
"The technology you will be retrieving is unknown, but will be identified by a certain energy signature. You will go in by pelican drop-ships, fight your way through the masses of insurrectionist soldiers and retrieve the icon." He instructed.
The Director paced in between the two rows of agents.
"Any questions?" He dared, more than asked.
A lower ranking agent, Minnesota, raised his arm. "Uhh... yeah. Who are the additional agents? It seems to me everyone here is accounted for."
The Director walked up to him and stared him in the eyes.
"That, is for me to know, and you to find out, Agent." He spat.
"Hello, gentlemen. I am the Councillor. I have been told you two do not know how to use your armour abilities." The man before Redd and Blu spoke.
"Yeeaah, I don't know what an armour ability is." Redd replied, unsure.
The Councillor smiled slightly.
"An armour ability is an augmentation to one's armour, rather than one's self. It provides a specific ability which can be used for a certain amount of time. Given the fact that you are both AIs, and the fact that armour abilities need AIs to run them, we thought we would give you two, as you are generation 4.0s." He explained.
Evidently, the explanation worked as the twins had a thorough understanding now.
"Agent Redd, your two armour abilities are Active Camouflage and Jammer. They are highly associated with stealth, enabling you to go temporarily invisible and disrupt radars and motion trackers. You enemies cannot kill what they cannot see. I want you to try activating Active Camouflage first, then deactivate it and activate Jammer afterwards." The Councillor instructed.
Redd stepped forwards, he then closed his eyes and thought hard. When he opened them again, he noticed that his hands were transparent. Shocked by this, he looked at the rest of his body, to find it was all the same.
He then deactivated it and tried his Jammer, which he assumed was for electronics. When he activated it, a slight humming sound could be heard and the Councillor's data pad was encountering a screen malfunction, warping it and making it flicker.
After about ten seconds it deactivated, due to the recharge time.
"Yes, I'd say that works just fine." The Councillor said briefly.
"Agent Blu, as for you, we gave you armour abilities associated with the protection and well-being of others. The first ability we gave you is Drop Shield, a combination of Bubble Shield and Regenerator, it allows you to deploy an energy shield with healing properties, protecting and healing those inside it." The Councillor began.
"Your second armour ability is actually a prototype, and hasn't been field-tested due to a lack of a more... powerful AI, such as yourself. It is a form of projectile EMP and is capable of frying electronics permanently, such as sentry turrets and vehicles. Like Agent Redd, I would like you to activate one after the other."
Blu then stepped backwards a bit and punched the floor, which quickly brought up a light blue shield. Turrets then rose from the floor and started firing live rounds at the shield, which seemed to be deflecting them with ease. Once the shield had collapsed, Blu started punching the air in the direction of the sentry guns and every time he did, the turret he was aiming at deactivated with a flurry of sparks.
Proud of what he'd just accomplished, Blu stepped forward with his head held high.
"Well done Agent, that was excellent. I think you two now have a good understanding of how your armour abilities work, I think it's time you go and field test them. On your first mission." The Councillor smiled kindly. But it was with a more malevolent intention.
On the ground, Team Two and Three were pinned down by tank fire.
"North, we gotta do something about that goddamn tank!" South shouted.
"There's not much else we can do South! Unless you're feel like dying today?!" North shouted sarcastically.
South scoffed at the comment and ducked as a tank round was fired at her.
"We need reinforcements Wyoming!" North ordered.
Wyoming nodded and contact the Mother of Invention.
"Mother of Invention, this is Agent Wyoming, about those two agents you had on standby? We need them to finish off this tank." Wyoming requested.
Redd and Blu were standing next to the Director. After hearing the message, he nodded once.
"You know what to do."
Down in the armoury, Redd an Blu were selecting their tools of destruction.
They walked into the Heavy Weapons aisle to find a whole assortment of toys to play with. One of which, managed to catch Redd's eye.
He picked up the weapon with some difficulty and loaded it into one of the ordinance drop pods. He also found three more that he took a liking to. An Assault Rifle and dual SMGs.
Blu, on the otherhand went for anti-tank weapons. A Rocket launcher and a Spartan Laser found their way into ordinance pods. He also acquired a Sniper Rifle and a Battle Rifle.
When they stepped into the Drop Pods the Director stood in front of them both.
"When you drop, your job is to keep the team alive at all costs, not acquire the objective, do you understand?" He barked.
"Sir, yes sir." They replied.
"Well then, F.I.L.S.S! Send them in as soon as the beacon is placed." He ordered.
"Yes Director." She chirped.
The Pod doors closed and the twins waited to be dropped into hell.
Back on the ground, Team One had made their way into the Facility, with the aid of Texas.
Teams Two and Three, however, were still pinned down.
"North, I have received word that the two Agents are prepped for deployment!" Wyoming informed.
"Just throw the beacon to wherever you want them!"
North activated both beacons and threw them at the tank.
"Beacon detected, firing at your command Director." F.I.L.S.S notified.
"Fire!" The Director ordered.
Redd and Blu were hurtling towards the surface at immense speeds, along with the ordinance pods.
When they hit the ground. The tank they landed on was destroyed beyond recognition. However, a secondary Scorpion, rode into battle.
The pod doors fired off and Redd and Blu rolled out of the way of a tank round.
Their ordinance pods then scattered themselves around them both.
Ironically, the Splaser and Rockets landed directly next to eachother.
Blu picked hem both up and stuck them to his back, before grabbing the rest of his weapons and dove behind cover.
Redd, on the other hand, decided to go for a more direct approach as he ran towards the mystery weapon he treasured so much.
Both team Two and Three looked on in awe as Redd heaved the minigun in both hands and fired manically at the soldiers in front of him.
One after the other the soldiers kept falling like a set of dominoes. The tank however, wasn't going to be so easily defeated, as it fired a round directly at Redd and missed by mere millimeters.
As a reaction to this, Blu quickly vaulted over the barricade he was taking cover behind and brought out both the Splaser and Rockets.
The tank driver, unaware of this, kept going on his bloodlust for Redd. Allowing Blu to fire both the Spartan Laser and Rockets at the Scorpion. when the weapons hit their target, it exploded into a ball of melting shrapnel. Killing all that were unfortunate enough to be next to it.
Redd nodded to his brother and decided to seek higher ground.
After clarifying that it was safe to come out, North and his team approached Blu.
"Thanks for that, we owe you one." He gave a friendly pat on the back and Blu simply nodded.
"What's your name?" South asked.
"I'm Blu, the other one you saw is Redd." He replied, trying to keep the conversation brief.
"Where did he go old chap?" Wyoming inquired from behind them.
"He's off to assist Team one in acquiring the objective." Blu stated.
He placed the Spartan Laser on his back and picked up some spare Rockets from the ordinance pods.
"The equipment here is ours, but feel free to take anything you need, this includes ammunition and weapons." Blu informed.
Both teams picked up spare ammo and anything else of use, grenades being a prime example.
Redd managed to find his way on top of the roof of the complex. Quickly scanning the area, he managed to find a ventilation hatch just large enough for him to fit through.
He navigated his way through the ventilation system until he could hear gunfire, shouting and some small explosions.
He then drove his hand through the metal floor of the tunnel. He then put his other hand through the hole and with all the strength he could muster, he ripped open the hole and jumped.
When he hit the ground he was adamant on his noise level, rolling as he landed and camouflaging instantly.
He stalked the halls of the complex, trying not to be caught, while finding his way towards team one.
On the way he managed to salvage a silenced sniper rifle and a couple of magazines.
He loaded the weapon and placed it on his back next to the minigun. He navigated his way round the halls where a found what appeared to be a vehicle bay, filled with any armored vehicle you could name. He walked along the catwalk he was standing on until he could hear gunfire. Quickly reacting he looked down at the catwalk below, and sure-as-shit, he managed to find team one, alive and well.
The four members were being fired upon by hostile snipers taking cover up on an adjacent catwalk. "Time to fight fire..." He began as he grabbed his newly-acquired sniper rifle.
He aimed at the first shooter and stabilized his arms.
"...With fire."
He pulled the trigger, all that could be heard, was the whistle of the silencer and the dead body hitting the floor.
"Boom, headshot."
Author's note: Sorry I haven't uploaded in so long, it's hard to do it without internet. I should have it back by this week, if not, expect another long chapter and an apology.
Have a good one!
-Hydra